This invention relates generally to fence structures and, more particularly, to fence structures for enclosing areas requiring high security.
High security fences are used extensively around confinement areas, prisons, and the like. Such fences also are frequently provided to exclude persons from areas for both the protection of the person, as at construction sites, and for protection of the site itself, as at industrial sites, secret installations, and even homes or residential areas.
Typically, high security fence consists of multiple vertical posts projecting upward from a stable support base such as the ground. The posts support paneling or partitions which in the most common form consist of a continuous length of wire mesh. Such basic fences, while providing a barrier against any casual desire to move from one side of the fence to the other, do provide ready handholds and footholds and can be easily scaled by a determined person.
In attempts to enhance the effectiveness of such fences, angled extensions of barbed wire are mounted to the upper ends of the posts to extend upwardly and inwardly toward one side of the fence. Such extensions are normally relatively short and permit access by a person having both a handhold and a foothold on the vertical fence itself. As such, the portion of the barrier which provides the maximum effectiveness, when considering a person of reasonable agility, is at the extreme top of the fence.
An improved high security fence is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,166. The fence disclosed therein includes fence posts that angle inwardly toward the side of the fence to which a person is to be confined. The inward angling of the fence posts and retained wire mesh is effected by utilizing fence posts anchored to project vertically upwardly from the ground to a predetermined height from which they arcuately arch upwardly and laterally from the vertically positioned and anchored lower end portion.
Because of the "overhang" nature of the fence throughout at least the major portion of the height thereof, the establishment of a foothold is precluded. Although improving security the angled fence disclosed in the patent exhibits various disadvantages such as high cost and labor intensive installation requirements.
The object of this invention, therefore, is to provide an improved high security fence which entails simplified relatively low cost assembly.